Day 183 The Emergency Room

So.....this is where me, Sam and Ted ended up in the middle of the night....

My poor patient had croup. He has had it once before so when he came into our room at 9.30pm last night, we knew the signs pretty much straight away. After throwing up on our bed, and getting frantic because he was having trouble catching his breath through all the coughing (I hated seeing him like this :( just after 10pm, I got us into the car quick smart to head to Emergency. 

It's another world in there... the nurses were fantastic, and looked at Sam straight away and organised some medicine. (The nurse remembered Sam from last time even though it was months ago! She said she remembered him because he was so chatty and friendly :) Then it was hanging out in the waiting room, waiting for a bed so he could get a check over by the doctor before we could go home. By this stage the medicine was doing the trick and although the cough was still there, it was minor and Sam was back to his happy, chatty self. 

Let me just say... Sam... what a special character! There were some cops waiting for a patient who was in a car accident, and apparently (from what I could gather when I was eavesdropping.. :) he was in big trouble ... but anyway - the cops were great! They loved Sam.. and chatted with him the whole time. Sam thought it was the best ever, and asked them all sorted of questions (like 'what's that?' pointing to their gun.. that was awkward!).. it made the wait a whole lot more interesting though as it was cool to chat with the cops and it sure did keep Sam occupied. Then Sam, being the social butterfly, ended up chatting with everyone else in the waiting room and by the end of it everyone was sitting around all chatting with us and each other... it was amazing actually! I think Sam will have a knack of bringing people together when he is older, and really getting people involved and feeling important.. it was quite special to watch the vibe in the room change and everyone come together, when we were all there for not so great reasons. I was very proud of my little guy... :)

So, we were finally called in and Sam popped onto the bed to get checked over by the nurse, and he also got to use the stethoscope to listen to his own heart which he thought was pretty cool,... some more waiting for the doctor and then the doc (who was amazing by the way, and so great with Sam!) gave him the all clear and we were good to go home...around 2am!

Sam is doing much better today, still has a slight cough, but too busy being excited about his hospital adventure to let it bother him too much! I, on the other hand, am exhausted! 

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VEGETARIAN PAELLA

I made this dish last night... and WOW it's so easy and so delicious and healthy! We've added it to our family favourites list. 

What you need: 

3 cups of Vegetable stock

2 cups of water

pinch Saffron threads

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 baby eggplants (120g) quartered

2 cloves garlic

1 red onion, chopped finely

2 tomatoes, chopped finely

1 red capsicum, chopped finely

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 3/4 cups of arborio rice

1 cup frozen peas

100g green beans (I used snow peas and this worked great too)

1/2 seeded black olives

1/4 finely chopped parsley

How to do it!

1. Put Vegetable Stock and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to boil, remove from the heat and stir in a pinch of Saffron. 

2. Heat oil in large frying pan; cook eggplant, stirring occasionally, for about 5 mins or until browned. Remove and put aside. 

Optional - Pour glass of wine while you are cooking to make it all the more fun :) 

3. Cook garlic, onion, tomato, capsicum and paprika in same pan, stirring, until onion softens.(This smells gorgeous!)

4. Add rice, stir to coat in mixture. 

5. Stir in stock mixture and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 20 minutes or until rice is almost tender (stirring occasionally)

6. Stir in peas, beans and eggplant and simmer covered for about 10 minutes or until beans and rice are cooked. Stir in olives and parsley... all done! Delicious! 

Our Sunday... after last nights adventure, is a nice quiet one... and I'm looking forward to heading out to dinner tonight with the lovely Claire, while she and her family are here in Perth for a few days! 

Peaceful Sunday with no more trips to Emergency... :) 

xx